[Rooto56]

Sorry, I'll just edit this post to say to go to the one in the general discussion section.

Here's a picture of the tops

Here are the bottoms and the brown dust stuff as well as some green algae.

 

[Rooto56]

Ludwigia not growing quickly and losing leaves

My ludwigia palustris doesn't seem to be growing very quickly, still grows just not as fast as it used to or should be, and it seems to lose lots of leaves due to some brown dust covering the older leaves. They don't seem to be producing very many roots. Could this be due to some deficiency or not enough co2? The lighting should be good, I have a quad 30" T5HO 6500k on my 36 gal bow front. All my other plants are fine, crypts, Val's, Java Moss. Everything is good except for the ludwigia. The stock is 8 corydoras and 6 rummynose tetras and 1 otocinclus. I dose flourish comprehensive every 5 days, and weekly water changes

 

[Hoppy]

You probably have high light, but that depends on which specific 4 bulb T5HO light you are using. If you have high light, or even medium light, you need to be dosing a lot more than Flourish Comprehensive. That Flourish product is a trace element mix, containing only token amounts of nitrate, phosphate and potassium, all of which are essential nutrients. See http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/11-fertilizers-water-parameters/21944-_dosing-regimes_.html for more information.

 

[Hoppy]

It is never a good idea to post the same thing in two forums. That keeps us from discussing our answers and arriving at a good answer. I answered on the General forum.

 

[Rooto56]

I don't currently use any Co2 but I do dose a 5ml of excel, is this not enough? I do also use osmocote plus root tabs in sand.

 

[bluesand]

Dosing too much excel may cause some plants to melt. Excel is not a substitute for co2. Add co2 if you want good growth.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Rooto56]

I've never had plants melt on me from using excel, and I have jungle and Italian val's in the same tank which are notorious for melting from excel. I find that as long as you don't follow the first step on the bottle, which is to dose 5 times the daily amount on the first dose, you won't have any issues even with excel sensitive plants. I am also trying to find out whether I should buy a diy co2 setup, since this is only a small 36 gal bow front. Do you think diy co2 (baking soda and citric acid) would be a good investment for a small tank like mine?

Most of my frustration is with this brown dust stuff and some green algae